Chic shelters designed to revitalize neighborhoods

Monday

The basics aren't so basic anymore. Souped-up versions of bike racks, bus stops, highway bridges and other previously seen-but-not-noticed fixtures are going up this spring in Columbus.

The basics aren’t so basic anymore.

Souped-up versions of bike racks, bus stops, highway bridges and other previously seen-but-not-noticed fixtures are going up this spring in Columbus.

They’ll look fancier, be built with better materials and cost more. Paying more upfront sometimes saves money in the long run, officials say. Sometimes, modern design enhances safety.

But advocates for the idea of elevating such utilitarian structures beyond their humdrum histories also argue that looks matter.

“Design is important,” said Cleve Ricksecker, the executive director of the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District.

Capital Crossroads is a Downtown property-owners group that will use $490,000 in federal economic-stimulus money to install bicycle shelters, lockers, racks and storage rooms from the Franklin County Courthouse to the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

The shelters, designed by architects with artistic flourishes and roofs covered with live plants, won funding through a U.S. Department of Energy initiative to reduce automobile emissions.

Ricksecker said the 294?bike-parking spots will encourage more commuters to pedal to work. Some office towers don’t let employees bring bikes into their buildings.

But the shelters also serve another purpose, he said. “The civic center of the region should have good design and quality construction. How many millions of people travel to and through Downtown every year? This is the one place where that makes a difference.”

The Central Ohio Transit Authority also is spending more to elevate bus-stop shelters beyond their prefabricated past. COTA spent $295,000 this year to build two retro-style, copper-roofed shelters on Broad and High streets near the Statehouse.

Instead of aluminum and laminate, the shelters were built with steel and glass. They include sensor-activated lights and heaters and were designed to last at least 50 years, said COTA spokeswoman Beth Berkemer.

They also were designed to please members of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, which oversees the Statehouse and its grounds.

COTA wants to build better shelters elsewhere, too, Berkemer said. The transit authority asked Columbus College of Art & Design students last year to take a crack at designs that added “an attractive focal point to the streetscape.” The winner will be replicated in Downtown locations next year, Berkemer said.

Columbus officials have been criticized in recent years for including granite curbs and decorative crosswalks in otherwise-routine road projects. When Mayor Michael B. Coleman pitched an income-tax increase to voters in 2009, opponents pointed to a just-completed $60 million Main Street bridge as evidence of skewed spending priorities.

Coleman defended the bridge as a catalyst for revitalization in Franklinton. Department of Public Service spokesman Rick Tilton said granite curbs last longer than concrete, and brick or other crosswalk designs send a visual message to motorists that they’re not the only people using a street.

Urban planner Ken Ferell, who oversees the bike-parking project for Capital Crossroads, said items such as bike shelters and bus stops also send subtle messages. Columbus has wide Downtown streets, he said, which makes them uninviting for pedestrians. A lack of foot traffic makes things more difficult for businesses.

Ferell said something as simple as adding shelters or on-street parking is “smoke and mirrors” that break up the visual expanse of streets.

At least one government agency, though, is rethinking the value of design enhancements during an era of tight budgets. Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jerry Wray said last week during a Columbus Chamber forum that the state must focus on “practical design” to stretch limited highway-construction dollars.

Plans won’t change for artwork, a landscaped pedestrian plaza and a deck capable of supporting development on a new Long Street bridge over I-71. The bridge will be built this spring as work continues on the three-year, $200 million reconstruction of the I-71/670 interchange.

But local governments will have to pitch in more if they continue to request recreation trails and other amenities to accompany ODOT projects, said spokesman Steve Faulkner. Wray has criticized the agency he took over last year for promising too much over the years and has proposed delaying some projects for as long as 19 years.

“They want signature bridges. They want bypasses. They want high-school emblems on the sides of bridges,” Wray said of local governments last week.

“We need to focus on the easy movement of people and goods from place to place.”

rvitale@dispatch.com

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